How to close the loop on a quarter-trillion plastic bottles a year
From GreenBiz, by Jan Dell and Marcus Eriksen
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported that of all plastic made in the United States in 2015, only 9.2 percent made it to recycle centers. We estimate that the plastic recycling rate in the United States will to sink to about 4.4 percent in 2018 because waste plastic does not have sufficient value to drive recycling rather than disposal. The U.S. plastic recycling rate could drop to 2.9 percent if the proposed Basel Convention amendment passes or if other Asian countries join China in banning plastic waste imports.
Can we recycle our way to a circular economy? As the equivalent of one large dump truck of plastic trash enters the ocean every minute of every day, urgency to act is tremendous.